The Red String Theory
by galaxygrace
Summary: It is believed that an invisible red string connects two who are destined to meet. A/U John dies soon after Mary, the boys grows up separated until a mysterious unknown force pulls them together.
1. Chapter 1 - Sam

**I DON'T OWN SUPERNATURAL, SPN CHARACTERS, OR ANYTHING OF THAT SORT. ALL RIGHTS TO RESPECTIVE OWNERS**

**This ****story is based on a Chinese legend and is entirely fictitious. I wrote it for fun and am making no profit.**

Sam woke up in a cold sweat and sat bolt upright in bed, dragging covers with him. Breathing heavily his eyes darted around the room and immediately checked on Jess lying peacefully next to him.

He stepped as gently as he could out of bed, shaking. It was 2:49am, May 3rd, the morning after his birthday. Sam knew he had been drinking and tried to convince himself his headache and shivers were from the hangover, but he couldn't shake the hunch there was something more.

After checking the kitchen and bathroom for reassurance he returned to the bedroom and walked to the bedside.

"Mmm-Sam? What are you doing up?" Jess mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "Go back to, ahhhhh, bed." She pat the empty covers next to her.

"I can't, Jess." Sam said, a little more panicked now. The words came out clipped and quick and he just stood there, frozen, staring at his fiancee.

"Sam?" Jess pondered, more aware now. "Babe is everything alright?" She sat up and turned a lamp on, the light immediately filling the room and illuminating all that had gone on last night. Panties and socks lay strung around the floor, illustrating the outcome of the drunk decisions they had made.

"I don't know, Jess," Sam answered, paying no attention to the room a strew. He had pulled himself away from the bed now and was pulling on jeans and a t-shirt frantically. Just before he headed out the door he snatched his old jacket his father left for him from the foot of the bed and then disappeared.

Worried now, Jess groggily got out of bed and ran after Sam. She caught up to him in the kitchen, throwing up. She immediately poured a glass of cold water for him and leaned in the door frame.

Without even noticing the water, he grabbed car keys and ran out the door, pushing Jess out of the way.

"Hey! Where the fuck are you going!" Jess hollered into the night at him, extremely irritated. She ran outside in the nipping cold, naked.

Grabbing Sam's arm he loomed over her. She felt intimidated but also felt such a strong love for him that she fought back tears seeing that he has leaving with no warning.

"Where are you going, Sam?" She repeated, her voice shaking.

After a silent moment of just staring into each other's eyes, Sam spoke up.

"I-I don't know, Jess. I just know I have to leave right now and start driving and-" his voice cracked and Jess began to cry.

Sam couldn't help his own self, he was being forced to leave and could not walk away, therefore he stepped into the car and backed out of their driveway. Jess reluctantly stepped away from the car and watched him leave. He had never done anything like this before.

_What's wrong with Sam?_ She asked herself. _Is it my fault?_


	2. Chapter 2 - Dean

"HEY SHIT HEAD, LEARN HOW TO DRIVE!" some asshole blurted out in the intersection as Dean Winchester made an uncalled for left hand turn, entirely illegally. The Impala screeched as it was forced around a clump of oncoming cars, barely scraping one vehicle.

2:49am, May 3rd, it was as if an invisible force had taken control of Dean at that moment and he could do nothing about it. He just about killed a few people in that busy intersection full of families on their way home from camping or bound for the airport.

Dean drove down an unknown road. He glimpsed out at the meek lighting the Impala provided and tried to figure out what in the hell was happening. It seemed to him that the car was driving itself.

One minute he had been on his way to Oregon for an alleged case that Bobby had conjured up, the next he was headed in a completely different direction.

In a few minutes of cluelessly driving down a rundown highway he found that he was heading in the direction of California. Forcing the vehicle to pull over moments later, he noticed it was almost as if it was reluctant to stop driving. Or was HE reluctant to stop driving?

"Dean?" Bobby spat groggily into the receiver, reminding him that it was just about 3am on a Tuesday and that most people are usually asleep at this hour.

"Bobby. You know that case? in Oregon? I'm not gonna make it there." Dean said, barely believing his own words.

"What? Dean, what the hell are you talking about? W-Where are you?" Bobby said, still half asleep.

"I'm not even sure, Bobby, it's like I'm being forced to go the opposite way. I think I'm nearing…California?" Just then, Dean's foot pushed down onto the gas pedal and immediately he started driving, flooring his foot.

"Idjit! Turn around! That demon ain't gonna exorcise itself!" Bobby yelled, irritated, into the cell.

"I CAN'T, Bobby!" Dean said with fury and fear. He was just as confused as Bobby and starting to freak out. Yet, Dean Winchester always managed to keep his nerves calm and channel them into his work. This, how it was directly affecting him, that was scary, though.

_What the hell is happening to me?_

As Dean drove on and on for the next few hours he pictured an angel yanking on his body. There was another angel pushing someone towards him as his was, as if the angels were tied together. He felt an almost magnetic pull towards something straight ahead.

It was funny how closely accurate he was.


	3. Chapter 3 - Angels

Once again, Dean forced the car and himself to pull over. With no motel in sight and a cranky Bobby, Dean decided he'd get a quick shut eye in the car. He just needed a couple hours and he could go on.

Dean's blue eyed angel watched over him and allowed him to rest his weary head. Castiel reminded himself that all humans, even hunters, needed sleep every once in a while.

Cas listened for a second waiting for Gabriel's signal. Finally hearing it after a short few minutes, Earth time, Castiel beamed knowing it was time.

With a kind smile, Cas tied a thin, heavenly, red string to Dean's pinky finger and held onto the other end as tightly as possible as his wings carried him to paradise. The string stretched and became so fine it will never be known when glancing at his hand.

As soon as Castiel arrived just beyond the sparkling gates, he waited patiently for his partner. As he waited he looked down and examined the string, visibly and physically incomprehensible to anything but angels of the lord. Only they knew these strings existed.

There, in his hands, he held a righteous man's life, his own destiny, and God's will. This was the most important thing in his life as well as the Winchesters' yet it looked like no more than a simple string a child would use to tie a present with. _How ironic, _Castiel thought, _soon my quest will be over and the destined brethren will be united. _

Cas sensed a presence and immediately Gabriel materialized in front of him.

"Hellooo, Castiel!" Gabriel half-spoke, half-sang. Cas wasn't good at identifying emotions, but he could hear the hint of nerves in his voice. "It's go time, tiger."

"Yes, time to go." Castiel replied.

They both help up the ends of the red strings and stared at each other, smiling.

"You tied it?" Gabriel asked, biting his lip.

"Yes." Castiel replied, nodding, and with that the two angels commenced connecting the two strings with a simple knot. One you'd learn in boy scouts.

This string will stretch, twist, fray, and wander, but never will it ever, ever, break.

They both looked down from Heaven on their two lonely heroes, confused, scared, and nervous. Soon enough the string will become tight once again and the boys will continue their adventure until they find one another.

"Will not be long now. They're so close.." Castiel mumbled. Gabriel nodded in agreement, finally at ease.


	4. Chapter 4 - Sam

Sam's tiny Prius revved it's engine as if it felt the need to leave. Waking up with a jump he accidentally punched the gear into drive and stepped on the ignition simultaneously. This weird twist of fate freaked him out as he struggled to get his wits about him and orient himself, grabbing the steering wheel. He had pure disdain expressed on his face.

Suddenly his phone rang. Sam's own body didn't allow him to pull his vehicle over so he reached to mute the incessant ringing with an awkward swing to the passenger's side. Finally denying the call from Jess he listened to the voicemail she left.

"Sam? Sam, where are you, babe? You're really freaking me out. Call me. Please," her voice pleaded into his cell. He felt a twang of guilt and reached over for his phone once again and stared at the screen.

Three seconds later Sam looked up just in time to notice a deer standing on the highway asphalt. In an instant he swerved, putting to use his swift reflexes. Missing the deer by barely a foot, he breathed a sigh of relief and tried to calm his rapidly racing heart.

20 minutes of highly illegal driving later, the Prius met the first intersection in hours. Everything in this part of California was unfamiliar and unrecognizable in the dark. Sam judged that the sun would rise in about an hour, but that was another hour of lonely darkness that felt as if it swallowed you whole in a panic. It made him wish desperately that this invisible force would cease pulling and tugging on Sam and let him return to Jess, to where he made sense, where he knew what he was doing.

The lonely driver gave up trying to decide which way to turn, guessing that this supernatural force would decide for him and knowing that there was nothing he could do about it.

Just as he had assumed, at the last second the car swerved right and continued down an even dustier road.

He passed a bright green sign that read "OREGON - 42 MILES"

_Great, _he thought, _perfect. Where the fuck am I going?_


	5. Chapter 5 - Angels

"What if they crash?" Cas said, talking to himself as he paced around the room. The angels sat in a bright white room that felt like a hospital waiting area. It was sterile with a dozen or so chairs, and a door on either side, leading to the gates and to a myriad of personal heavens for human souls.

"They won't." Gabriel stated, exasperated. Castiel had been making up extreme situations and outcomes for the past 3 hours, Earth time, and Gabe was fed up.

"Humans are fragile. They could starve. Or fall asleep and crash. Or an oncoming vehicle could smash into them, or they could miss each other, or the string could get tangled, or stretch too much, or break, or-"

"CAS SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP OR SO HELP ME GOD." Gabriel boomed. Castiel snapped back around and eyed Gabriel. He was surprised Gabriel could lash out like that. The stress must be getting to him. His finger tips glowed a yellowy white and his eyes squinted as the celestial being loomed over him.

Castiel sat down with a defeated look on his face. He was frustrated with all his emotions boiling inside of him. He was frustrated with how helpless he felt, like he had no control over the situation.

"Castiel," he said, folding his arms under him, pouting like a little kid. "not Cas. It's Castiel."

"Whatever. Sorry little brother." Gabe mumbled, feeling guilty.

The two anxious angels sat back to back, arms crossed, worry apparent in the lines on their faces. Castiel looked down to Earth with round blue eyes and his eyebrows knit tightly.

_Please, Father, have mercy on their journey. _Cas prayed. _For the good of myself, my brother, and Sam and Dean, let them find each other._

__*six minutes later*__

_"_Gabriel," Cas said seriously. He was dead pan. "Look. They are close."

Gabe ran over ignoring his angel mojo and peered down upon Earth from Heaven.

"Just a few more minutes.." He muttered, in awe. The most important moment in the humans' lives was upon them - and they didn't even know it.

The angels sat patiently crowded around the window to Earth. Gabriel watched Sam intently, quietly mumbling to himself. Castiel's eyes followed Dean consistently, his body unmoving. They waited for what seemed like forever. Then, finally, the moment came.


	6. Chapter 6 - Dean

In the looming darkness ahead, barely lit up by meek headlights, Dean caught the first evidence of human life he had seen in hours. There, just a quarter mile or so in front, a single headlight shone, cutting through the night, illuminating the scene like a lighthouse on a stormy night, defying any wind or waves. In this case just wind.

Dean squinted and focussed on the headlight. Just as the two vehicles drove past each other time seemed to slow down as if in a dream. Visible only by the other's headlights, they looked each other in the eye, drinking in desperately what they missed so much the last few hours. They must have only made eye contact for less than a second, but it felt like eternity. Dean could detect every thought of that moment from this stranger's expression. And they were the exact thoughts he himself was having.

Their minds mirrored each other for that spilt moment.


	7. Chapter 7 - Sam

As the night deepened, Sam felt the cold nip at him through his heavy jacket, given to him by his late father. He fiddled with the zipper trying to fight off the freezing night.

As soon as he paid attention to the road again, he noticed something.

Sam felt a rush of butterflies when he looked just over his dashboard. _Another car?_

The split second they made eye contact, both drivers leaned towards the windows to get as close as possible to one another. The brief moment felt like years, and Sam immediately read the strangers expression. He recognized it right off the bat.

He recognized it as his own.

As soon as they passed, Sam's arm flew off the wheel and his whole body became numb.

Pushing his hands back on the wheel, he swerved across the narrow highway, risking his own life. He couldn't help it though, of course.

After driving near four hours, not having any way of knowing what your immediate purpose is, it suddenly felt as if this was it. Four hours in the same direction, on the same road, it was refreshing to be playing opposite.

As he was driving back, he felt a force in his chest that was magnetic. There was absolutely no way he wasn't going this direction, so Sam accepted this and drove fast in order to accommodate for the pressing force.


	8. Chapter 8 - Dean, technically

The Impala came to a screeching halt as soon as eye contact broke between the strangers. Dean sat, breathing heavily, before the string wrenched at his arm, forcing him to drive back the direction he came.

Dean had no choice and, after fighting aggressively with himself, swerved his Baby around and drove faster than it had ever gone before. Dean winced as he heard the engine moaning under the pressure.

Going the opposite direction, he noticed the tiny Prius with the not-so-tiny man inside was coming towards him once again, too.

The men looked at each other with an apprehensiveness and mutual confusion once again. Eye contact broke, and both cars stopped dead in their tracks.

Simultaneously, the guys stepped out of their cars, feeling the invisible force apparent in their movements. The looked at each other in awe.

"So, am I going crazy or-" Dean questioned, praying silently to anyone that would listen that it wasn't just him feeling what he was feeling.

"Do you, um, feel-something?" The stranger responded before Dean could finish. Dean noticed the way he stood, his stance reminded him of a moose. And his jacket…it reminded him of his own. His father.

"Uh, yeah, I guess you could say I do…" Dean said staring wide eyed, questioningly, at this overgrown adult. "Awesome. Thank god its not just me. Hey, what's your name? Because I just drove four fucking hours to do who knows what, and I think it has something to do with you and I-"

"Sam. Uh, my names Sam." The stranger cut Dean off. He hates when people do that. But he couldn't help but find it endearing when 'Sam' did it.

"Call me Dean. Dean Winchester." Dean said. Dean legally went by his adoptive surname, but preferred his biological name. It was what his father called him when he was little. It was him.

Sam took a step back and swallowed in disbelief. "Winchester..that's my last name. Or, the one I had when I was born, I guess. I go by my adoptive parent's name."

Suddenly the boys stared into each other and years of understanding flashed across their eyes.

"How-how old are you?" Dean asked, daring to hope. He vaguely remembered a brother, four years younger, his memory mostly kept alive by old pictures.

"I'm twenty-one," Sam answered. His adoptive parents had mentioned once or twice he had an older brother, Sam never really took it seriously, and barely dared to hope right now.

"I'm-I'm twenty-five, Sam." Dean whispered, more like trying to convince himself. "Your jacket…"

Sam got defensive. It was his single possession from his previous life, his first six months.

"It was my Dad's. He left it to me, he died soon after my mother.." Sam said apprehensively. "It's-wait, why am I telling you this?"

Nervous, trying to keep his voice steady, Dean approached Sam and spilled his life story.

"My mother, Mary, died in a fire, Sam. My Dad, John, died a month after her. Sam, I had a brother. But after my parents died my brother and I went to different families. I was four years older than him. And this, this jacket? Only keepsake from those four years. Sam.." Dean's voice broke, fighting back a slew of emotions, memories he repressed and pushed to the back of his brain, all coming at him like a waterfall, all at once. Tonnes and tonnes of weight, Dean's insides buckled and all he could do was look at his long lost brother.

Sam took a step back. Fighting off nausea and a stinging headache, he steadied himself against the Impala and studied Dean for a second.

"Dean…are we…" A slight smile stretched across Sam's face, as a smirk of relief and and disbelief spread across Dean's.

The brothers embraced in a long, tight hug. A hug that attempted to make up for every lost hug in 21 years. Sam stepped back and saw tears brimming in Dean's eyes.

"Let's go for a drive, Sammy." Dean simply stated. Sam gave a nod and smile of approval and the brothers settled in the Impala. For Sam, it felt like home. As if the 21 years of individual existence ended. He finally felt whole.

Sam looked down to his phone and checked the 3 new voicemails from Jess. A twang of guilt hit his gut and a part of him wanted desperately to call her, get in his own car, drive back to her, live his life as he had planned up until this moment. But that part of him lost as the other, new found identity of himself took over. He shut off his phone and stowed it away in the compartment. Once again glancing over to his brother, he leaned back and relaxed, at ease for the first time in as long as he could remember.


	9. Chapter 9 - Angels

Back in Heaven, the angels looked at each other. Gabriel had a smirk on his face as if he knew this would happen all along. Castiel looked up at him with a huge beam on his face.

"We did it, brother," Castiel said brightly. "Our task is complete."

"Hellz yeah, Cas!" Gabe teased with a wink. "Let's go untie them."

Invisible on Earth, undetectable, Cas gently untied the red string of fate from Dean's smallest finger. Gabriel stealthily pulled off Sam's knot.

Bound together only by their blood and undeniable bond, the brothers drove on in the early sunrise, both just grateful their red strings brought them together. The boys were whole at last.

"_An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle but will never break_."


End file.
